A Note on Unemployment and Health Convergence in Space: Evidence from US States

Abstract

Spatial convergence in terms of ‘health’ has been examined in only a few empirical studies. This paper addresses the relation between unemployment and obesity in US States within a ‘health’ convergence context. After controlling for spatial effects, we show that unemployment is not only positively related to obesity, but also accelerates the speed of adjustment towards to a State’s own steady-state level of ‘health’ conditions. Our findings clarify that straightforward possibilities for geographical convergence in health conditions are limited; an observation that provides policy-makers with valuable insights into the process of regional allocation of public funds aimed at improving health conditions.

Keywords

Convergence Obesity Spatial effects Unemployment US

JEL Classification

Notes

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to an anonymous referee for helpful suggestions and comments. The findings, interpretations and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position, policies or views of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food and/or the Greek Government.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Appendix

Table 4

Tests for spatial dependence

Moran’s I statistic (z-scores)

ln(OB)

un

smo

ln(popd)

he

Period 1 (1995–1998)

5.738 (0.000)***

2.765 (0.006)***

2.245 (0.025)**

7.047 (0.000)***

5.323 (0.000)***

Period 2 (1999–2002)

5.488 (0.000)***

3.900 (0.000)***

2.595 (0.009)***

6.981 (0.000)***

4.868 (0.000)***

Period 3 (2003–2006)

5.792 (0.000)***

3.336 (0.001)***

3.957 (0.000)***

6.993 (0.000)***

4.826 (0.000)***

Period 4 (2007–2010)

5.655 (0.000)***

5.048 (0.000)***

3.812 (0.000)***

6.988 (0.000)***

4.356 (0.000)***

***, ** and * indicate significance at the 1%, 5 and 10% level, respectively. p-values are reported in parentheses. The null hypothesis indicates the absence of spatial autocorrelation

NHLBI (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute) (1998). Clinical guidelines on the identification, evaluation and treatment of overweight and obesity in adults. NIH publication number 98–4083, National Institutes of Health, New York.Google Scholar